A Wisconsin brewery already under fire for promising free beer when President Trump dies has announced a new promotion, half-price drinks the day Sen. Mitch McConnell dies, even as state regulators move to revoke its operating permit.
Minocqua Brewing Company, a small operation in northern Wisconsin run by liberal activist Kirk Bangstad, published an Instagram post Monday speculating that the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican had already died and that the news was being concealed. The post announced the brewery would cut prices in half "on the day they unplug the ventilator," as Fox News Digital reported.
McConnell has not appeared in the Senate for more than a month. He was hospitalized after a fall at his home, and the Office of the Attending Physician has said he is not medically cleared to return. None of that amounts to evidence that the senator is dead or on life support, but Bangstad's post treated it as a foregone conclusion.
The Instagram post, which remains publicly visible, laid out the brewery's reasoning in blunt terms. Bangstad wrote that McConnell was responsible for "about half of all America's current problems" and that the half-price promotion was the appropriate response. He referred to McConnell as "Rigor Tortoise" and "the ghost from Kentucky."
"When they announce that McConnell's Faustian dance has finally ended, we're gonna start serving our beer at 'half price,' because we promised #halfpricebeerday on the day they unplug the ventilator."
The post also took aim at Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, calling him a "so-called 'Establishment Democratic Hero' and modern day gutless member of the do-nothing opposition party" for not calling a special election to replace McConnell before an August 3 deadline. Under Kentucky law, the brewery claimed, the seat would now remain unfilled until January.
Beshear, for his part, sent McConnell a letter last week demanding the senator prove he is fit to serve. "I am calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign," Beshear wrote, in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital. Neither Beshear's office nor McConnell's office responded to requests for comment.
The McConnell promotion is not Bangstad's first foray into this territory. In January, the brewery published a social media post that appeared to suggest it would give free beer to patrons if Trump was killed, without explicitly using his name. That post drew sharp criticism and renewed scrutiny after a shooting near the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
When Fox News Digital reached out for comment, Bangstad made disparaging remarks about the outlet and said all were invited to the half-price event "if you feel left out", but added he would charge full price to anyone wearing "red hats." The New York Post reported on the same promotion, noting the broader controversy surrounding McConnell's prolonged hospitalization and the political climate it has created.
The brewery has also posted on Facebook promising free beer "the day he dies," referencing Trump, and later lamented "we almost got #freebeerday" after a shooting near Trump, Fox News reported in a separate piece. One post attributed to the brewery's Facebook account read: "Either a brother or sister in the Resistance needs to work on their marksmanship or he faked another assassination to get a positive news cycle." That language speaks for itself.
Celebrating, or openly wishing for, the death of political opponents is not limited to obscure Wisconsin breweries. A Rocky Mountain PBS board chairman faced backlash for publicly wishing a stroke on President Trump, and the pattern keeps repeating across progressive circles.
While Bangstad was busy drafting promotions tied to politicians' deaths, his brewery was also fighting for its right to operate. The Wisconsin Department of Revenue sent Bangstad a notice announcing plans to revoke Minocqua Brewing Company's permit. The revocation was set to take effect on Tuesday.
The basis for the action had nothing to do with politics. Authorities seized canned beer from the company in June, alleging it had been transported from Illinois without the required permits and taxes. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on July 27 that Bangstad criticized the proposed revocation as excessive.
Bangstad filed an administrative appeal, which paused the revocation. A Wisconsin Department of Revenue spokesperson confirmed the status to Fox News Digital: "Minocqua Brewing Company has filed an administrative appeal, and, therefore, the permit will not be revoked, pending the outcome of the administrative appeal."
So the brewery stays open, for now, while the appeal plays out. No timeline for resolution has been made public.
Minocqua Brewing Company is not a business that happens to have political opinions. Bangstad founded the Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC, registered with the FEC under Committee ID C00765529. Its stated mission, published on the brewery's own website, is to remove "Republican federal and state elected officials who perpetuated the election lies that caused the Insurrection of January 6, 2021, and whose downplaying of the seriousness of COVID-19 caused so many unnecessary deaths in our country."
The brewery has described itself as making "progressive beer" after closing its brewpub, partly blaming McConnell for letting "restaurants twist in the wind" during COVID-19. It also sells "half-price beer day" T-shirts, merchandise built around the premise that a sitting senator's death is a commercial opportunity.
Similar conduct from public figures who have posted death-related imagery targeting political opponents has drawn fierce backlash and forced apologies. Bangstad has shown no interest in either.
There is a word for building a business model around wishing powerful people dead and selling T-shirts to mark the occasion. It is not courage, and it is not resistance. It is ghoulish, and the permit fight suggests the brewery's problems run deeper than bad taste.
